Business Member Spotlight: Harris Seeds Organic

Harris Seed Company is based in Rochester, NY

Harris Seeds began offering organic seed back in 2002, supplying a limited number of varieties at a time when the demand for organic seed was just beginning to grow. With a new president in 2016 came a new vision for the company and a new brand: Harris Seeds Organic was launched to service the organic farming and gardening communities. Over the past two years, the company has expanded its offerings from 150 vegetable and flower varieties to over 230 certified organic vegetables, flowers, OMRI supplies, and live goods.

With a goal of supplying seed that is both affordable and high quality, Harris Seeds Organic is helping to build the supply chain and meet the expanding need for organic seed. Daniel Eggert, who manages Harris’s organic brand, is leading the company’s efforts to advance the organic movement in hopes of one day seeing organic practices become the new “conventional” way to grow.

Out of a passion for developing great tasting cultivars, Harris Seeds Organic began working with vegetable breeders Jason Cavatorta and John Hart of EarthWork Seeds in 2015. Harris shares their vision of breeding new vegetables that are not only productive and disease resistant but also taste great. The results include tomatoes Damsel F1, a pink late-blight tolerant beefsteak, and the 2018 AAS National Award Winner Red Racer F1, an early determinate large cocktail variety, both bred under organic conditions and available as organic seed.

Harris Seeds Organic supports OSA and our work to adapt and further develop organic varieties and to train and develop the next generation of organic seed growers. Daniel said it simply: “We will continue to engage and support Organic Seed Alliance in any way we can.”

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Cara Loriz

Cara Loriz is OSA's executive director. Before joining OSA, she led the start-up of Sylvester Manor Educational Farm, an organic farm on Shelter Island, New York. Cara holds degrees in geology and technical writing, and taught environmental science and geology in California, Utah, and Ohio.

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